What a trip! I gave myself two hours to make the 50 mile drive to Manchester, New Hampshire for the American Idols Live show, and it took half that time just to get out of Boston. Rush Hour. Rain. I should have known better.
I got to the venue at 7:25 and was shocked to discover there were still spots available in the lot across the street. In prior years, I would have had to park blocks and blocks away, and missed the first few singers.
Fortunately, after picking up my ticket at Will Call, I made my way down to my seats just as the opener, Didi Benami, was taking the stage. Looking around, I noticed that almost the entire upper bowl was empty, as were many seats sprinkled throughout the arena. I’ve been attending Idol shows at the Verizon Center since S3, and have never seen a crowd so sparse.
The Idols sang their little hearts out and appeared to be having the time of their lives, so there’s no reason to feel bad for them, really. But while the peeps who were there were enthusiastic and showed the kids a lot of love, this year’s top 10 have no way of knowing just how crazy an Idol concert can be.
This Idol show was downright mellow in comparison to past years, when you could feel the excitement in the air. What was missing was that over-the-top vibe typically brought by throngs of fans intensely invested in one Idol or another. It just felt really different this year.
I took my seat and whipped out my camera. At the end of Didi’s set, I got busted for taking video. Ugh. Meanwhile, there were people getting out of their seats, standing where they didn’t belong, and blocking concert-goers’ views (including a kid sitting in a wheelchair), yet security couldn’t muster up the energy to take care of that. Priorities, people!
To make matters worse, I was in such a rush to get to get to my seat, I left my iPhone in the car. That meant no tweets for you! I did manage to get some half-way decent photos, which I’ll be posting soon.
The show got off to a quiet start. Didi Benami, Andrew Garcia and Tim Urban had their moments, but have styles that don’t translate so well to a big arena setting. What sounds so good on Andrew’s You Tube channel, as he strums his way through his quirky covers, falls flat in the bigger setting. Didi’s subtle vocal phrasing becomes lost in the mix. Tim connected beautifully with the audience, and is a real sweetie, but “Viva La Vida”? Really? That song is notoriously difficult to sing live, and he couldn’t do it justice. “Better Days” would have sounded better in a smaller setting. (I have to say, the surge of camera flashes when Tim took the stage was pretty funny.)
Katie Stevens’ performance style was fierce, in contrast to her wooden demeanor on Idol. I was not expecting her to be so spunky. She really showed some serious chops on her cover of Christina Aguilera’s “Fighter”. Though, try as she might, could not get folks to stand up.
The crowd didn’t come alive until Siobhan Magnus took her heavy-metal rock act to the Idol stage. OK, maybe not exactly heavy metal, but Siobhan’s set is one of the harder rock acts to hit the Idol stage. While “Spiderwebs” brought the pop flavor, it was bookended by the Stone’s “Paint it Black” and Muse’s “Stockholm Syndrome”, both featuring heavy guitars and Siobhan’s signature scream.
Y’all know I didn’t care much for Siobhan’s Idol performances. The screech seemed like too much of an all-purpose gimmick, and by the end of her run, she couldn’t pick a good song to save her life.
But, unlike some before her, Siobhan benefitted from the arena setting. When she hit her trademark scream, it was altogether fitting and perfect. She made great song choices, and really managed to put on a show. Very entertaining. Her outfits were almost worth the price of admission.
Aaron Kelly knows how to work a stage too, but I think my expectations were a little high from all the raves I’d been hearing about his tour performances. Really a smart move to move away from ballads for the tour, but I still came away feeling that young Aaron was missing some spark. Still, Aaron finally demonstrated that he knows who he is as an artist. He wears the pop/country mantle well. My favorite song of his set was his take on Rascal Flatts’ “Fast Cars and Freedom.”
Ha, I almost forgot the bottom 6 medley that closed the first half. The kids sang “The Climb.” It was a’ight. The fact that I almost forgot to mention it, is telling, I think.
Mike Lynche should have taken a tip from Aaron and injected a little more pep into his ballad-heavy set. “Woman’s Work” was beautiful, but following it up with the dirge-like “Ready for Love” nearly put me to sleep. And I wasn’t buying the Timberlake turn he did with “My Love”. I wish Big Mike had gone for that neo-soul vibe he’d presented during the early rounds of Season 9.
I woke right up when Casey James took the stage. He really got the crowd going with his incredible guitar skillz. I really dug his set from beginning to end. Well, I could have done without the Big Mike duet (GAH, how I HATE “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman.”) Casey got things off to a blistering start with the blues cover, “I Got Mine.” His duet with Tim, the Idol guitar player, was major fun. He brought the temperature down a bit with the acoustic ballad “Don’t”, but then after his duet with Big Mike, it was back to some major guitar riffing as he closed the show with the Stones. “All Over Now.”
Things settled down a bit when Crystal Bowersox took the stage, but not in a boring way. Her easy style was mellow, but at the same time completely had my attention. There was lots of easy banter with the audience, as if she were chatting with old friends. Grounded and honest, Crystal’s stripped down performance was a highlight of the night. Sitting at the end of the stage, Crystal’s voice soared on Patty Griffin’s “Up To The Mountain.” Crystal upped the energy a notch, closing with a fine “Piece of My Heart.”
Lee DeWyze was like a bundle of nervous energy. Trying to take his photo was like trying to hit a moving target. He was all over the place–never still for very long. It kinda sucked for the girl in front of me with a big blue sign. I don’t think he actually ever saw it, or the teen in the wheelchair the couple next to me kept pointing to.
But lest you think he was ungrateful or rude—Lee was so in the zone when singing, he probably would not have noticed if the arena caught on fire. That passion energized his set, making it the perfect closer for the night. Lee re-arranged the Idol numbers, “Beautiful Day, ” “Hallelujah” and “Treat Her Like a Lady” to suit the bigger space, and they worked. “Rocket Man” was the least favorite of his 5 song set, but it’s not one of my fav Elton John songs to begin with. A solid performance of “Use Somebody” wrapped things up before the Idols took the stage for the finale.
The “It’s My Life/My Life Would Suck without You” medley lacked both vocally, and in the cheesy goodness department. Fail! The vocal blend was so grating, I understood why the producers had them lip sync the group numbers during the competition rather than perform live.
The number was lacking the major hijinks of the Michael Johns/David Cook bromance, or the dramatic entrance of Kris Allen and Adam Lambert on a lift. Granted, this year’s simple staging had no fancy lifts making it hard to introduce some drama or a big finish. The set is as simple as could be, with the band and background singers situated on a short riser. Two horizontal video screens behind them flash photos. Aaron’s “Walking in Memphis” had an Elvis Presley backdrop (Oh, that synergy!)
But back to the finale! The kids should really consider injecting a little more fun in that last number. They’ve proven they’re up to it, if their amusing twitter banter is any indication. Maybe they just need to loosen up a little more.
Overall, a good time was had by all, including me.
